Things are starting to gather pace as we head towards the business end of the Motorsport UK British Rally Championship season.

After two blisteringly fast asphalt rounds to open the BRC’s account, the gravel of the Nicky Grist gave us some dust between our teeth as the world-class Welsh stages gave us yet another scintillating battle for honours in the top-flight BRC1, National Rally Title and Junior BRC categories.

It was 2021 runners-up Osian Pryce, from Machynlleth, and Noel O`Sullivan who took top spot in Essex as the Corbeau Seats Rally Tendring & Clacton opened the championship for the very first time.

Pryce and four-time BRC champion Keith Cronin went head to head for the opening round win and it was the Irishman out front for most of the day, before Pryce dialed in his Melvyn Evans Motorsport run Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 to reel him in for the win.

Round two saw a role reversal as the popular Beatson’s Building Supplies Jim Clark Rally made a welcome return to the calendar; the undulating and unforgiving Scottish Border roads providing the perfect backdrop for the series.

But Pryce endured a nightmare opening day, organisers excluding him for failing to stop and change a puncture as required in the event regulations.

That left Cronin pretty untouchable throughout the remainder to make it one a piece heading to Builth Wells for the Nicky Grist Stages in July.

Yet again it was Pryce vs Cronin for the win and although there were flashes of brilliance from hard-chargers Ruairi Bell and James Williams, it would be the `old school` brigade who fought for top spot with Pryce narrowly taking the win in a dramatic final stage showdown.

He is now second place in the standings, 11 points behind leader Cronin.

And for the fourth round we stay on the gravel but head to the far corner of Scotland for the Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally on Saturday, 13 August.

Last year, this event proved to be a tough challenge for our protagonists with even the best in the business struggling to adapt to the ultra-fast loose surface roads in the Durris, Fetteresso and Drumtochty forests with a central rally base at Milton of Crathes.

Action is guaranteed and could well start to shape the look of the BRC points tables as we head for three events in just seven weeks. Five scores from seven count so those with points from all three rounds so far may well throw caution to the wind.